As Connie and Steven ran as fast as they could, Steven started thinking about everything that had happened as he tried to make sense of things. He dismissed Pearl's conclusion that sex would lead to him getting pregnant and dying out of hand, as there was simply no way that could happen. He didn't have the right internals for that, and his shape shifting didn't work the same way it did for the others since most of his body wasn't a hard light construct. However, Pearl's freak out over such things had raised another thought in Steven's head: Connie getting pregnant.

Now, he'd always known that was a possibility if they successfully had sex, and 'protection' wasn't really viable as Beach City pharmacy didn't carry it in his size, and there weren't any other drug stores in easy reach to buy…and Connie trying to buy them outside of Beach City was as out of the question as her trying to buy clothing like what she conjured for herself in His Room. Still, he was a human/Gem hybrid. It was probably unlikely that he could produce viable spermatozoa, any more than a mule or a liger could. But then again…

The powers he inherited from his mother were the Rose Shield and Healing Mucosa, focused in his saliva as opposed to tears as it had been for Rose Quartz. One could deduce that such power would actually make his spermatozoa exceptionally potent, and if being a Gem hybrid showed up anywhere in his DNA…that had never been checked…

As his mind flashed him an image of the Kindergarten Injectors, he stumbled and fell flat on his face, pulling Connie down with him onto the beach sands below the Temple.

"Wah!" Connie screamed out as she tumbled to the ground. "Steven, are you okay-"

"Stay back!" Steven screamed out as he scooted away from her as fast as he could crawl backwards.

Connie crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him, plainly unamused. "…okay, what brought on the 'keep away from me for your own good' nonsense this time?" she demanded coldly. "We know it's not going to work, and you're just making yourself look foolish sticking to it, so how about you try talking about it instead?"

Steven stared at Connie for a time, then sighed. "Gems are parasites," he stated calmly.

"Yeah, I know that," Connie confirmed. "We've gone over this before. You showed me the Kindergartens and explained what they meant. I've accepted that and moved past it. Where are you going with this?"

"A Gem Seed is planted deep in the Earth, where it leeches away at the planet's resources until it has enough to produce a full gem," Steven continued. "This eventually leaves the planet a hollowed out husk from too many Gems being produced-"

"I just finished saying I knew about all this," Connie growled irritably. "Get to the point before Pearl gets here and gives you hers."

"What if I have Gem Seed?" Steven shouted at the top of his voice, his fear showing.

"…come again?" Connie asked, a little lost.

"Once might be too much!" Steven countered fearfully.

Connie blinked as she processed that innuendo with the conversation. "Wait…you're worried your spermatozoa will have Gem build code as part of the reproductive DNA?" she translated.

"Yes!" Steven shouted out. "And if we have sex, you could get pregnant and die as the baby tries to build a Gem inside you!"

Groaning, Connie put her face in her hands, rubbing at her temples as she wrapped her head around this. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way-"

"But how can we know?" Steven shouted fearfully. "I…we can't risk it, we just can't!"

"What?" Connie gasped in shock. "Look, Steven, I admit I hadn't considered this possibility, but we can figure this out. And…" She rubbed the back of her head. "Okay, while I hadn't planned a specific date or time, I have had a few fantasy moments of a future with our kids, and I knew you'd make a great Father. Don't…don't you want kids?"

"Not if it means losing you," Steven groaned softly as he moved forward towards Connie. "Not…not if it means going through what Dad did!" He hung his head, tears forming at his eyes as he started to cry. "Can you imagine? Just…all he could do was be there with her, watching me slowly develop inside her, knowing that my birth meant her death, that I would be taking her Gem to come into existence, erasing her! That the day I was born…he would never see again see the woman he loved more than his own life. Can…can you even imagine what it must have felt like…to go through that?"

Without warning, he lunged forward and pulled Connie into a tight embrace. "I can't do it! I can't imagine how he did it…but I'm not that strong! I can't go through that! I can't live without you, Connie!"

Connie gasped in surprise at the suddenness of his declaration. "…Steven…" She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close as she felt his sorrow, his fear, his love…even without being Fused, she knew the intensity of his emotions too well, and didn't need to imagine his emotional state.

A loud thump caused the pair to jump as they realized they weren't alone. Turning, they saw Greg climbing off Amethyst's back as she changed from a purple cheetah back to her normal shape. "Well," Greg stated as he approached, "if there's one thing I never expected to hear in my life, it was my son claiming he wasn't as strong as me." He chuckled softly. "Then again, I never expected to see Pearl running around asking everyone if they'd seen you two making babies, so I guess this is a day of unexpected." As the two young adults stared at him, he knelt down in front of them. "So…let's talk about this a bit…"

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Garnet smiled as she continued to leap alongside Pearl. As she'd foreseen, Amethyst would get Greg to Steven and Connie much faster than Pearl could keep up, and a 'vision' of where the pair had run off to led Pearl on a wild goose intercept course. That would give Greg plenty of time to talk Steven and Connie out of any panics, and then everyone could talk rationally. Her visions did show that when Pearl next met up with Steven, she'd be calm, though Garnet had followed Greg with that vision as opposed to Pearl, so she didn't know how yet, especially since Pearl was still demanding of anyone she came across-

"Have you seen Steven and Connie making babies?" Pearl demanded fearfully of a statue of all things.

"Pearl, that's not a person-" Garnet began.

"What?" That sudden angry shout froze Pearl and Garnet as they slowly turned towards the source. Dr. Maheswwaran stomped right up to the pair, her husband following behind. Reaching out, Connie's mother grabbed Pearl by the front of her outfit and pulled her nose to nose. "Just what did you mean by that, exactly?"

Garnet swallowed nervously. "I really should have…but I did not see this coming…"